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Drew Stafford
| birth_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin | draft = 13th overall | draft_year = 2004 | draft_team = Buffalo Sabres | career_start = 2006 }} Drew Stafford (born October 30, 1985) is an American professional ice hockey right winger currently an unrestricted free agent who most recently played for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He started his professional career with the American Hockey League (AHL)'s Rochester Americans before being called up to the NHL on November 5, 2006, with the Buffalo Sabres the team that drafted him in the first round (13th overall) at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Drew played nine seasons with Buffalo before being traded to the Winnipeg Jets on February 11, 2015, playing with Winnipeg for parts of three seasons before his March 1, 2017 signing by the Bruins. Playing Career Amateur Drew played for the St. Albert Bantam AA Flyers in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada in the 1999–2000 season. During the season, he finished third in League scoring with 26 goals and 47 points in 30 games while leading his team to a provincial berth. At the conclusion of the season, he was selected to participate in Hockey Alberta's elite development program as a member of the Northwest Sharks in the 2000 Pioneer Chrysler Alberta Cup. Drew played at Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota, for two years and played on the US national team at the 2003 IIHF World U18 Championships. He then played for three seasons at the University of North Dakota and on the US national team at the 2004 and 2005 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Following his freshman season, Drew was drafted 13th overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres. After two more seasons, he signed a professional contract with the Sabres in 2006, foregoing his senior season at the University of North Dakota. Stafford finished his three-year collegiate career with 118 points (48 goals and 70 assists). Professional Drew began his professional career with Buffalo's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rochester Americans. With nine points in the first 11 games of the season, he caught the attention of Sabres management, and was called up to Buffalo in early November to replace injured winger Maxim Afinogenov. In his NHL debut on November 5 against the New York Rangers, Drew assisted on a game-winning overtime goal by Daniel Briere, earning his first NHL point. On November 11, he scored his first goal in the NHL on the Philadelphia Flyers' Antero Niittymaki. He won NHL Rookie of the Month honors for March 2007 despite the fact that Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche had his record-breaking rookie scoring streak in the same month. He scored his first game-winning goal on February 27, 2007 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Drew became a regular in the Sabres' lineup during the 2007–08 season, scoring his first career hat-trick against the Atlanta Thrashers on January 18, 2008. More than a year later, he went on to score his second hat-trick in a 10–2 rout of the Edmonton Oilers on January 27, 2009. A little less than a year after that, he celebrated his third hat-trick on December 15, 2010, against the Boston Bruins. Drew added his fourth (also against Boston) on January 1, 2011, his fifth on February 8, 2011 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and his sixth on February 13, 2011, against the New York Islanders. On June 3, 2011, he signed a four-year, $16 million contract extension with the Sabres. In his ninth season with the Sabres in 2014–15, on February 11, 2015, Drew was traded alongside Tyler Myers, Brendan Lemieux, Joel Armia and a 2015 first-round draft pick (Jack Roslovic) to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian and the rights to goaltending prospect Jason Kasdorf. On February 14, 2015, in just his second game on the Jets, Drew scored a goal in regulation, as well as the shootout winner, in a 5–4 shootout victory over the Detroit Red Wings. On the eve of free-agency, Drew re-signed to a two-year contract to remain in Winnipeg on June 30, 2015. On March 1, 2017, he was traded from Winnipeg to the Boston Bruins for a conditional 6th round draft pick in the upcoming NHL Draft. On March 4, 2017, he played in his first Bruins game, racking up his first scoring point as a Bruin by assisting on Ryan Spooner's game winning goal against the New Jersey Devils for a 3-2 home ice win at TD Garden. Drew scored his first Bruins goal on March 8, 2017 as the third Bruins goal en route to a 6-1 home ice defeat of the visiting Detroit Red Wings. Career Statistics Regular season and playoffs International }} Accolades Personal Life Drew was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but he grew up in Faribault, Minnesota. As a teenager, he played AAA hockey with the Milwaukee Jr Admirals. His father, Gord Stafford played professional hockey with the Milwaukee Admirals of the International Hockey League and the Wichita Wind of the Central Hockey League during the 1980s. Gord is the director of hockey at Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Faribault where Drew also played high school hockey. His uncle, Barrie Stafford was the head equipment manager for the Edmonton Oilers for 28 years before retiring in 2012. Drew formed a band called Red Seal Peach while at the University of North Dakota with goaltender Jordan Parise. He appears in the Every Time I Die video for "Decayin with the Boys," playing Jenga at a party in full hockey uniform. Category:1985 births Category:American ice hockey players Category:American ice hockey right wingers Category:Buffalo Sabres players Category:Buffalo Sabres draft picks Category:Winnipeg Jets players Category:Boston Bruins players Category:Rochester Americans players